Oscar Nominations will be announced tomorrow at 8:30am EST by 2013 Oscar Host Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone.  

It’s early, but this is the official start to the season. 

Watch it live : http://www.popsugar.com/2013-Oscar-Nominations-Live-Stream-Video-26659108

Crossing my fingers for Leonardo DiCaprio, David O. Russell, and Judi Dench. 

The Help, directed by Tate Taylor, succeeds as a women’s picture capturing the moments of sorrow and grace played out in bedrooms, kitchen tables, and living room parlors. However in terms of its social causes, The Help has little to offer in illuminating racial or class discrimination. The film tells several stories which meet in the collaboration of two African American maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, and a white aspiring writer, Skeeter Phelan to document the treatment of black domestics in Jackson, Mississippi around 1963.  The film at parts may get you riled- a nasty comment or hasty judgment may even earn your ire, but the film really wants your heartstrings pulled tautly and often.

The Help does little harm and is a sight better than the white protagonist centered narratives like The Ghosts of Mississippi or Amistad, mostly because of the strong performances from Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer as Aibileen and Minny.  Davis takes this role and turns into something magical.  Like her turn in Doubt, Davis can do a lot with little, while completely breaking your heart in longer, emotional scenes.  In one scene, Aibileen implores Skeeter not to give up on writing their book, telling a horrific story of her son’s death.  The lines on the page aren’t much, but Davis injects such sorrow, anger, and pride into that scene, it doesn’t much matter what she says- only what we feel. Octavia Spencer as Minny gets the funner role, rolling off sarcastic lines, sassy looks, and memorable phrases (mostly surrounding a certain flavor of pie).  However, Spencer is more than comic relief, getting some real moments of compassion and frustration.  

Emma Stone is quite good here, but her story line never matches what Davis is bringing.  Skeeter’s an outsider on the inside of Jackson’s elite community.  She wants to write about something that  ”disturbs her particularly if it doesn’t seem to bother anyone else,” assuming she’s the only one bothered by segregation and racism.  Yet, her curiosity about Aibileen’s life and hardships seems genuine and rooted in her own upbringing by an African American domestic, played by the legend Cicely Tyson. Stone gets a tacked on romantic storyline, meant to show how her social conscious affects her love life, but it just doesn’t amount to much.  

Along with Davis and Stone, The Help features a host of stunning performances by Hollywood’s greatest actresses and delightful newcomers.  I loved Jessica Chastain (the enigmatic ginger from Tree Of Life) as Celia Foote.  I was never sure how Ceila fit into the story and I’m not sure she needed to be there, yet I came to miss Chastain’s bubbly, guileless, and heartwarming persona when she wasn’t on screen.  Bryce Dallas Howard, an actress I really like, is quite good here as southern mean girl Hilly Holbrook.  In a final scene with Davis, Aibileen calls Hilly “A God-less woman!,” Howard recoils at the whooping recrimination from Davis, yet before she can regain her bully powers, Davis follows with a softer, but even more powerful punch asking, “Aren’t you tired?”  Howard begins to melt before us, showing even this hated person has some issues of her own.  Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek get applause worthy stands in the film as well.  

So when you see The Help bring your Kleenex, but leave your protest signs at home.

Directed by the creative duo that brought us the balls-out funny film I Love You Phillip Morris from last year, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa make another hilarious, sometimes wicked comedy full of heart.  Crazy, Stupid, Love features a parade of different relationships, some inappropriate, but manages to make each vivid and distinct while packing the best moments in the central story around Steve Carell and Julianne Moore’s characters.  

Moore and Carell play Cal and Emily, high school sweethearts that married, had kids, and find themselves distant strangers.  Emily wants a divorce and Cal quickly and quietly acquiesces.  Cal gets taken in by Jacob (Ryan Gosling) a smooth cad who gives this sad sack a new wardrobe and tutorial on how to pick up women. Bumbling at first, Cal becomes quite the ladies man to the shock of Emily. Meanwhile, Emily is being courted by David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon STILL HOT), a sweet accountant at her job that she had a one-night stand with before asking Cal for the divorce.  

Also there’s young Robbie (Jonah Bobo) the son of Emily and Cal who loves his babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton) who actually has a crush on Cal- must have been watching The World According to Garp to many times.  Cal has no idea about this, but word of his dalliances encourage young Jessica to make a bold move. Meanwhile, Jacob meets Hannah (Emma Stone) and unsuccessfully tries to pick her up at a bar. Later in the film, Hannah dumps her boyfriend and takes Jacob up on his original offer.  They start dating and Jacob abandons his playboy ways, but seeks help from Cal on how to be the good dependable guy he originally objected to in Cal.

All these romantic entanglements are a set up for a pleasing comedy of errors when all the love flying around begins to collide in some unexpected ways.  Yet the key relationship manages to be Moore and Carell’s.  The ending stretch of the film rightly focuses in on them, tying things up in a heartwarming and believable final scene.  Carell is excellent here as a romantic lead.  Like in Dan in Real Life, a movie I love, Carell has our sympathies no matter if he’s being sweet or alienating all the other characters.  Cal’s flaw, similar to Dan, is his self-righteousness that comes out in lectures to other characters while he breaks his own rules. With Carell there an enduring goodness that keeps the character from drowning.

Julianne Moore is superb in a tricky role.  She starts the film as the person we might hate for cheating on Cal, yet Moore wins us as well pushing Cal to participate in their relationship.  We see Emily through Cal’s eyes and hope these two can come together. Gosling proves that he can look hot doing just about anything and gives a convincing performance as a lonely cad who changes for the right girl.  Kevin Bacon’s David gets painted by Cal as a seducer, but turns out to be a sweetheart that we secretly want Emily to give a shot.  Emma Stone isn’t in the film enough unfortunately, but is hilarious and cute when she appears. Other side players, Marisa Tomei as a lusty and vengeful middle school teacher and John Carroll Lynch as Jessica’s dad deliver great laughs and offer full characters even though their scenes mainly drive the plot.  Even Josh Groban is good as Hannah’s clueless douche boyfriend.

Crazy Stupid Love rises above schlocky romantic comedy fare because amid the chaos, Ficarra and Requa focus on the central couple.  Multi plotted stories like He’s Just Not That Into You fall flat for having too many stories with none being fully developed.  I left the theater feeling like I knew Emily and Cal, like new friends from a great dinner party.  Also, Ficarra and Requa have a rare talent of balancing wicked humor with sweetness.  Aside from Emily and Cal, every other character’s romantic pursuit sways to the inappropriate sphere, yet I felt like each person was well intentioned and not too creepy.  When you find yourself rooting for a 13-year-old kid winning the heart (someday) of his 17-year-old baby sitter you know you are in the hands of a master.